WRITING GUIDELINES
Dr. Susan L. Caulfield
Department of Sociology
Western Michigan University
Written for:
SOC 260/SOC 454
July 1991
Revised, for SOC 562, August 1993, 1994, 1996
Revised, for SOC 606, August 2006
1
INTRODUCTION
Writing papers is important for a number of reasons which include, but are not limited to, the
following:
- They are necessary processes by which people can learn more about their field of study.
- They are a necessary part of research in any endeavor to learn more about what others
have done in a particular field of study.
- They are a forum in which the writer can demonstrate an ability to integrate a variety of
materials and write information that surpasses basic exam writing.
- They are a training exercise in communicating a point to others and substantiating that
point.
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS IN THIS COURSE
The various writing assignments in SOC 6060 relate to at least one of the reasons listed above.
The research proposal in SOC 6060 is a combination of all four reasons listed above. That is,
this assignment serves as a mechanism for you to learn more about sociological inquiry, as a way
for you to practice your writing, and as a demonstration that you have grasped both the course
and research material and can apply it to a specific topic.
The bulk of these Writing Guidelines are geared toward the writing of research papers.
However, please recognize that the basic principles of proper writing and referencing apply to all
papers. Therefore, a thorough reading of these guidelines is required of all students in SOC
6060.
Outside research work is required when writing a research paper and is required in nearly all
sections of the research proposal. In this case, you MUST use outside sources, by conducting
library research. The primary purpose of the research paper is to demonstrate the development of
skills related to proposing and conducting social research. In order to demonstrate scholarly
knowledge, it is necessary for you to familiarize yourself with JOURNAL ARTICLES that
address your topic. A list of acceptable journals is included after these guidelines.
A major problem encountered by some students is failure to adequately address the issue at hand.
It is often useful to discuss your paper topic with the professor. It is recommended that students
clarify the direction of their paper; this can be accomplished by meeting with the professor and
discussing the outline for the paper.
A secondary, but very serious problem that students have with writing assignments, in general, is
failure to give proper credit for the material used to substantiate the points. Seeing as the
material will come directly from the writings of other authors, you must reference all of the
material! This is an extremely important issue, and is covered in detail in the section titled
NOTES ON REFERENCING. It is possible that other professors/ teachers have not required
diligent referencing from you in the past. However, that is not an excuse, and will not prevent a
penalty being applied.
2
APPROACHING THE TASK
As with all your assignments, you are encouraged to get an early start. Granted, everyone has a
number of different obligations and writing may not be at the top of the list. However,
understand that procrastination often makes the task difficult, especially if a person is already
nervous about writing.
The most important starting point is clarity of the questions being asked. Begin by outlining the
overall question or thesis you wish to address. You do not need to submit a formal outline for
evaluation; however, feel free to discuss preliminary work on your outline with the professor.
For example, your thesis may be on an examination of violence in the family. It is wise to check
with the professor for clarity on this part prior to submitting it for evaluation, most notably
because of the depth and breadth of such a topic. (NOTE: checking with the professor can occur
during office hours, or by asking in class.) While rugged individualism is touted in this society,
it does not mean that you have to approach the problem by yourself, without discussing it with
the professor or with other students.
Always write a rough draft. Ideally, write it so that you can leave it for at least 24 hours before
rereading it. You can also bring a rough draft to the professor and discuss what you have
written. This is especially helpful in ensuring that you are on the right track. As there are plenty
of computers on this campus, take advantage of them and put your rough draft on a diskette.
That way, changes to the manuscript will not require a great deal of extra work.
Some students benefit from having a friend read their draft, especially to check for spelling and
logic. The writer often becomes so immersed in the topic that the paper makes sense to them.
However, it may not make as much sense to another reader. Of course, if you use another reader,
try to select someone who is a good writer! It is often helpful to have different members of the
base group proofread each other’s= work.
EVALUATION OF WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
Writing assignments are graded on substance, and on grammar and/or spelling. In general,
papers are evaluated based on your ability to (1) clearly define your topic/issue; (2) logically
discuss the particulars of your topic/issue; (3) insure that your writing relates to issues raised in
this course, either directly or tangentially; (4) utilize scholarly sources, as required and defined;
and (5) give proper credit, via referencing. Proper referencing is very important; failure to do so
carries very stiff penalties, including a grade of zero points. Do not assume that your opinion,
however wonderful it may be, will be an adequate substitute for scholarly material. You may
integrate material from class lectures (this class only); however, such referencing should be kept
to an absolute minimum, as these assignments are not designed as regurgitations of lecture
material.
Remember, part of the reason for the various writing assignments is to evaluate your grasp of
material presented in this course. Providing information from other courses is insufficient.
3
There are very sound reasons for this approach. The primary one is that the professor is
evaluating you based on information presented in this course (after all, your grade in one course
should not be dependent on your work in other courses). Keeping these reasons for the
assignments in mind will generally help keep you focused on the task at hand. For example, if
you know that in many cases your opinion will not earn you points, you will probably be less
inclined to merely compose your paper as you type it, since this method lacks documented
materials used to substantiate your points.
In summary: (1) outline the task; (2) get feedback on your outline; (3) write a rough draft, and
incorporate material from the research sources (be very careful that all of the information is
properly documented, as demonstrated in the next section of this guide); (4) reread the rough
draft 24 hours later; (5) have someone else review the rough draft; (6) make the necessary
changes; (7) type the final product; (8) proofread it for substance, grammar, and spelling; and,
lastly, (9) turn it in on time! [NOTE: the syllabus lists the penalty for late assignments.]
As the syllabus notes, some of the writing assignments in this class, particularly the journal
assignments and reading response papers, are not graded. Instead, they are assigned credit if
done correctly. However, it is still important that you approach all your writing with the intent
of doing the task well, as this will help you in your overall learning of the writing process.
With the research proposal, there is an evaluation sheet provided so that there is clarity on both
expectations and points assigned to various aspects of the paper. Familiarize yourself with this
document as it will help you in the development and organization of your paper.
NOTES ON REFERENCING
Whenever another person's ideas, thoughts, and/or words are used, that person must be given
credit. To not give credit to the original source is to plagiarize the material. Plagiarism is a form
of cheating because the writer is misrepresenting someone else’s work as his or her own.
The Western Michigan University Code of Student Life explicitly prohibits plagiarism,
which includes the submission of purchased term papers and reports, the copying of other
students' work, the lack of proper citation of material, and the copying of material from
textbooks. There is additional information on this provided in the syllabus, under
Academic Integrity.
Remember, when writing it is important to demonstrate to the reader that the writer understands
the material she is writing about. To facilitate this demonstration, it is useful to paraphrase
information as much as possible, that is, restate it in words different from the original, keeping
the same meaning. If the writer understands the context of the reading or research, she should be
able to put things into her own words.
Limited use should be made of direct quotes. Too many quotes can demonstrate a lack of
understanding on the part of the writer. Direct quotes should only be used when they can make a
dramatic point.
4
All of the researched information must be cited. The writer's (that is, you) original thoughts are
not cited, since they are original. Non-original thoughts, those that someone else has already put
to paper, must be credited to the person or persons who thought them. Therefore, both direct
quotes and paraphrased material must be properly cited throughout the paper.
As a rule of thumb, for the assignments in this course, every paragraph should have at least
one citation in it, unless it is a paragraph of the writer's own opinion or conclusion. Since
the bulk of the writing assignments is not supposed to be your opinion, it should be heavily
referenced. Regarding class reading response papers, as you are analyzing some aspect of the
reading, you will need to properly reference the part of the reading to which you refer.
So, unless you are asked to give your opinion, there should be a proper reference for the material.
If you were to refer to only one source in a paragraph, and all of the information was
paraphrased, you could properly reference the information by placing one citation at the end of
the paragraph. However, if you refer to different sources in the same paragraph, then each one
must have its own citation. Direct quotes always have a citation directly after the quote.
EXAMPLE OF ESSAY PARAGRAPH
In the example below, the writer of the paragraph is referring to two different sources regarding
the topic. With the first source, Chesney-Lind and Shelden, the writer is referring to both a
direct quote and paraphrased material. As to the second source, Caulfield, the writer has
paraphrased information from that source. The use of direct quotes is obvious because all of the
quoted material must be contained within quotation marks, and at the end of the quote, the
reference must include the last names of the authors, the year of the publication, and the page(s)
where the quote can be found in the text being cited.
Despite the fact that "about a quarter of the people arrested in the United States
are girls, as recently as 1969 there is evidence to suggest that even reputable
theorists, such as Travis Hirschi, were unable to recognize the female's role in
delinquency as having any greater significance than to afford them more than a
footnote in their literature, e.g., The Causes of Delinquency" (Chesney- Lind and
Shelden, 1992, p. 1). However, with the era of the "just add girls and mix"
approach falling under heavy criticism, new attention is being devoted to both the
diminishing gap between the sexes for certain offenses, as well as the prevalence
of females among primarily status offenses (Chesney-Lind and Shelden, 1992)
...To suggest that gender related demographics can be accurately applied to
indicate that because you are female you are either biologically or psychologically
predisposed to an involvement in shoplifting or in prostitution clearly represents a
misapplication of these studies. However, if these findings
can be utilized to discern the aforementioned relationships, to cite just a few, between
females and delinquent behavior, then the reliability of these demographics is certainly
detectable (Caulfield, 1-16-92).
5
Note how direct quotes (Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 1992, p. 1) are referenced differently from
paraphrased material (Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 1992), and how both are referenced differently
from lecture/course material (Caulfield, 1-16-92).
REFERENCING STYLE
Various referencing styles are both available and documented. Documentation can be found in
bookstores and libraries. The style chosen will depend on personal preference, type of research
being conducted, and/or class requirements.
The following examples of referencing are part of the APA (American Psychological
Association) style. This particular style is often suggested to beginners because of its relative
ease and clarity. It is recommended that you use this style for all writing assignments in this
course.
The key information needed for citations used in the text of the paper includes the Last Name of
the Author or Authors , the Year of the Publication (for books, this is copyright year, listed
after the title page - always use the latest year listed, for journal articles this is usually found on
the first page of the article, or on the cover page of the journal), and the Page or Pages from
which the information was taken. Note that additional information is needed for the complete
citation that is listed on the reference page of the paper. Details on this are provided later in this
guide.
It is quite helpful to think of this information as a type of road map. The general idea is that the
reader of your paper may wish to read more about something you have cited. The only way for
the reader to be able to do this is to have directions to the information you have cited. The
author, year and, if direct quotation, page number, tell the reader exactly where to go to read
more about the topic at hand.
Some writers like to include the title of articles when referencing a source in the text of the
paper. It is not necessary to do so, as it is lengthy and often awkward to read. Since the full title
is provided on the reference page, it makes more sense to merely cite the author(s), the date of
publication and, in the case of direct quotes, the page number. The reader can get the rest of the
information from the reference list.
1. Direct Quotes. Direct quotes are when the writer uses the exact words found in
the sources being cited. Limited use should be made of direct quotes. However,
there are times when the original wording is very well done or would be difficult
to put into different words.
For each direct quote, APA requires that the writer list the Last Name
of theAuthor, the Year of the Publication, and the Page (or pages) from which the
quote was taken. For example, if the writer were quoting something from The
Brethren, written by Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong in 1979, the text of the
paper would appear as follows:
6
According to Woodward and Armstrong (1979; p. 186): "Nixon had two
criteria. He was still looking for a Southerner, and he wanted another
'first' for his administration. He wanted to appoint the first woman to the
Court."
Note how the quoted information is contained in quotation marks. This is important as
it distinguishes quoted information from information that is paraphrased. Failure to
place this information in quotation marks can be construed as plagiarism, since the
writer is representing the work as the writer's own words (i.e., paraphrased
information).
Here is another example, taken from Samaha's book on Criminal justice.
According to Samaha (1991; p. 79): "Crimes within families and among
acquaintances frequently do not enter the criminal justice system, despite
their widespread occurrence."
[The reader of this passage knows that if she wants to read more about this topic, she
can go to Samaha's book (of which a full reference would be included at the end of the
paper) and look on p. 79 for this quote.]
The writer may not wish to make direct reference to the original author, yet still quote
someone. This may take the following format:
One could also look at this consent as a system based on fair play, where one consents
"by a principle of fairness, by the fact of participation in a system of benefits based on
reciprocal sacrifice" (Murphy, 1970, p. 136).
In this excerpt, the information in quotes is directly taken from Murphy's work, and is
introduced by the writer of the paper.
Using the example from Samaha:
According to a nationwide survey of crime victims, people are less likely
to report a crime if they know the offender. Therefore, "crimes within
families and among acquaintances frequently do not enter the criminal
justice system, despite their widespread occurrence" (Samaha, 1991, p.
79).
There are a variety of ways to present quoted information. One rule is that if the
quoted information is more than five typed lines, it should be single-spaced and
indented in the body of the paper.
The important point, of course, is to give credit where credit is due.
7
Note: glossary terms, definitions in the margin, and items from dictionaries and
thesaurus must be quoted as well. Use of such items should be kept to a minimum, if
used at all, since the necessary definitions can generally be found in the body of the
textbook.
2. Paraphrasing. As noted above, limited use should be made of direct quotes, which
means that most of the material being cited from a source should be written in the
writer’s own words. That is, one should restate the general point being made in the
source. Paraphrasing is not about moving around one or two words in a sentence.
Paraphrasing is rewriting several sentences into one summary statement that captures
the essence of the original sentences found in the cited source.
Each time a writer paraphrases another author, APA requires that the writer list the
Last Name of the Author and the Year of the Publication.
Using the same example above:
Direct Quote:
According to Woodward and Armstrong (1979; p. 186): "Nixon had two
criteria. He was still looking for a Southerner, and he wanted another
'first' for his administration. He wanted to appoint the first woman to the
Court."
Paraphrased material:
Nixon desired to be the first president to appoint a woman to the Supreme
Court (Woodward and Armstrong, 1979).
Using the example from Samaha:
Direct Quote:
According to a nationwide survey of crime victims, people are less likely
to report a crime if they know the offender. Therefore, "crimes within
families and among acquaintances frequently do not enter the criminal
justice system, despite their widespread occurrence" (Samaha, 1991, p.
79).
Paraphrased material:
Even though crimes among people who know each other occur quite often,
they frequently are not brought to the attention of the criminal justice
system (Samaha, 1991).
If paraphrasing different authors in the same paragraph, give proper citations after each
unique source. If the entire paragraph relies on the thoughts of only one source (albeit
paraphrased by the writer), be sure to give credit at the end of the paragraph.
3. Citations Once Removed. Often times, the writer will want to reference information
that an author has referenced in his or her text. For example, Samaha may reference
8
the work or words of Gruber. Generally speaking, one should not reference Gruber
through Samaha, because one could not be confident that Gruber was quoted in proper
context. The best thing for the writer to do is locate the Gruber source (which would
be included in Samaha's reference list). However, this is not always feasible and, for
some assignments, such as the writing assignments in this course, it may be acceptable
to use Gruber as presented in Samaha.
For this course, cite Gruber through Samaha, but be sure to list it properly; that is, as
read through Samaha, since you will not have read Gruber.
In doing so, the writer must still give proper credit. For example:
Gruber (as cited in Samaha, 1991, p. 153), in discussing police functions,
noted that: "For all our policing, we understand that law enforcement is
not the solution to the problem of drugs in our society."
Using this format, the writer tells the reader that (a) this is someone else's idea/thought,
(b) Gruber, not Samaha, is the original thinker/writer of the thought, and (c) the reader
will be able to find the quote, if necessary to do so, and where in the text (Samaha) it
can be found.
(a) through (c) are essential pieces of information. The reader should always know
whose thoughts are being presented, and where they came from, in case the reader
wishes to pursue them further, either for clarification or for the reader's own research
purposes.
4. Citing from an Edited Anthology. Anthologies are books that consist of numerous
chapters, each of which is a paper written by the authors listed on the first page of
the chapter or section. One way to identify an anthology is to note that each chapter
is generally written by different authors, while the book itself is edited (that is,
organized) by the author(s) listed on the cover of the book. Because each chapter is
written by a unique author(s), it is not acceptable to list the editors (those whose
names are on the cover of the book). Instead, one must reference the authors of the
chapter and the title of their chapter, as part of the larger anthology.
To reference work in a particular chapter is analogous to treating the chapter as
though it were an article, followed with a reference that notes what pages this chapter
consists of and in whose book. For example, Barak edited a book, and one of the
chapters was written by Caulfield. The citation listed on the reference page would
be formatted as follows:
Caulfield, Susan L. (1991). "Subcultures as crime: The theft of legitimacy of
dissent in the United States." Pp. 49-61 in Barak, Gregg (1991). (Ed.)
Crimes by the capitalist state: An introduction to state criminality. Albany,
NY: State University of New York Press.
9
In the text of a paper, the above citation would be cited as Caulfield (1991), with page
numbers included for any direct quotes. Any citations in the body of the paper would
draw the reader to the Caulfield citation in the bibliography, with the information one
needed to find the complete chapter.
5. Citing Information from the World Wide Web. While the bulk of research for this
course will not come from web sources, there will be times when web sources are
used as supplemental information. Therefore, it is important to use proper
referencing style for any such citations. As with any citation, it is important that
you have the author’s name and the date of the publication. One would use the
author’s name and the date of the publication in all citations provided in the text
of their paper, and a complete citation on the reference page. An example of the
complete citation is provided in the next section.
6. Reference List. Many styles, especially APA, require not only citations in the text,
but a separate Reference List as well. While the citations included in the actual body
of the paper do indicate the original author, they do not provide the full citation. Full
citations must be included at the end of the paper, on a page titled Reference List.
This separate listing of sources should be in alphabetical order by the last name of
the first author. The following is an example of a reference list. You, of course,
would not put the identifiers that are provided in capital letters. These are
provided here to help distinguish how to write proper citations for different types
of sources.
BOOK:
Bernard, T. J. (1983). The consensus-conflict debate: Form and content in social
theories. New York: Columbia University Press.
CLASS NOTES:
Caulfield, S.L. (2006). SOC 6060 Lectures, date of lecture or page of handout.
JOURNAL ARTICLE IN HARDCOPY FORMAT:
Caulfield, S.L. (1993). Voices of dissent: Political prisoners and the role of the
state. Journal of Prisoners on Prison, 4(2): 121-132.
EDITED ANTHOLOGY:
Caulfield, Susan L. (1991). "Subcultures as crime: The theft of legitimacy of
dissent in the United States." Pp. 49-61 in Barak, Gregg (1991). (Ed.)
Crimes by the capitalist state: An introduction to state criminality. Albany,
NY: State University of New York Press.
BOOK:
Elias, R. (1986). The politics of victimization. New York, NY: Oxford University
Press.
10
JOURNAL ARTICLE FROM THE WEB:
Fine, M.A. & Kurdek, L.A. (1993, November). Reflections on determining
authorship credit and authorship order on faculty-student
collaborations. American Psychologist, 48(11), 1141-1147.
Retrieved March 6, 1998 from the World Wide Web: http://www.
apa.org/journals/amp/kurdek.html
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE FROM THE WEB:
Murray, B. (1998, February). Email bonding with your students. APA Monitor,
[Newspaper, selected stories online]. Retrieved March 6, 1998 from the
World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/monitor/bond.html
WORLD WIDE WEB SITE:
Williams, Scott (1996, June 14). Back to school with the quilt. AIDS
Memorial Quilt Website. Retrieved June 14, 1996, from http://
www.aidsquilt.org/newsletter/stories/backto.html
SUMMARY
To not follow these guidelines is to put oneself at risk. Plagiarism can be dangerous to your
academic health. It will result in a grade of zero on assignments and, if deemed particularly
serious, can result in failure in the course and further University action. Importantly, such risk
can be avoided by following these simple guidelines.
As stressed above, the writing assignments are designed such that students further develop their
critical skills in the area of research methoids and sociology. To do so, students must conduct
scholarly inquiries into particular subjects, and write up their findings in a professional and
logical format.
ABBREVIATED GRADING COMMENTS
When grading writing assignments, I rely on abbreviations to mark what are generally
grammatical and sentence structure errors. The most common abbreviations used are as follows:
NN - not necessarily (you didn't substantiate the point)
SS - sentence structure is incorrect (can affect clarity)
NAS- not a sentence (which weakens your argument)
DF - doesn't follow (statement does not support previous one)
DMS- statement doesn't make sense (hurts your argument)
OV - overly vague (indicates lack of understanding)
NTS- not the issue (you are off track)
BS - self-explanatory
11
RBS- random BS (really not impressing me at this point)
Try to learn from the comments and improve your writing style. Always feel free to review your
paper with the professor. However, it is wise not to wait until the day before something is due to
do so.
VARIATIONS ON A THEME
In these days of computers and word processing packages, it is important that you both use a
spell checker and NOT rely on a spell checker as your sole means of proofreading your work. In
particular, pay careful attention to words that have multiple spellings.
For example, know the difference between there (a place), their (the possessive of more than
one person), and they're (the contraction for they are).
Also know the difference between accept (to receive with consent) and except (to exclude or
object)!
There is also cite (to quote an authority), site (a location), and sight (refers to seeing).
While one can say that “they passed the test,” they would walk past the door.
We can be right (meaning correct), observe a rite (ceremony), or write a letter.
Than is a conjunction suggesting difference (he is taller than I am), while then is an adverb
meaning “at that time (the n we shall go).
Also, work to avoid unorthodox spellings. Use night, not nite, to refer to the late evening. If one
is going through a town, use through, not thru. While the use of abbreviated spellings is
acceptable for taking notes, it is not acceptable in writing scholarly papers.
Note that your grade is lowered for misspelled words and/or improper grammar (see specifics on
paper evaluation form). Such mistakes detract from your argument, and your overall
presentation. Always keep in mind the image of self that you wish to present.
Use these guidelines as a beginning point in becoming a better writer. Also make use of the
Academic Skills Center, use a dictionary, edit drafts of your work, and learn from your mistakes.
12
LIST OF ACCEPTABLE JOURNALS
American Sociological Review
Annals of the American Academy of Political and
Social Sciences
any Law Review
British Journal of Criminology
Contemporary Crises
Crime and Delinquency
Crime and Social Justice
Crime, Law and Social Change
Criminology
Critical Criminologist
Human Rights
Human Rights Quarterly
Humanity and Society
International Journal of the Sociology of Law
Issues in Criminology
Journal of Conflict Resolution
Journal of Quantitative Criminology
Journal of Marriage and the Family
Journal of Social Issues
Journal of Criminal Justice
Journal of Prisoners on Prisons
Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
Mediation Quarterly
Signs
Social Justice
Social Problems
Social Work
Social Forces
Sociological Focus
Sociology and Social Research
The Prison Journal
Victimology
Violence and Victims
Women and Criminal Justice
Women's Studies International Forum
NOTE: This is not an exhaustive list, but should give you some guidance as to what is
considered a scholarly source. The library does not have all of these, so leave plenty of time to
order what you need through the Resource Sharing Center on the second floor of Waldo (you can
also order such material via the library=s web site). If you end up with a topic that does not
appear to be covered in such journals, check with the professor for alternative sources.
Generally speaking, pop magazines (such as Time and Readers Digest) are NOT scholarly
sources. Scholarly sources are so-named because of the level of research that is behind the
publication, plus the fact that many of them use a peer-review process for publication decision
making. If in doubt, check with the professor.
Searching for references in journals requires the use of a system such as FIRSTSEARCH system,
accessible via the mainframe computer. Or, use the old stand-by, journal indexes. When
necessary, ask the Reference Librarians for help---that's why they're there. And, check the
SOCIAL SCIENCE INDEX SOURCE LIST for other acceptable journals - it is located in the
reference section of the main library.
13
14